I read some fascinating books for my January reviews and recommendations.  From a young woman’s moving story about her crazy upbringing to a journalist’s hunt for a lost city, there is a good assortment of different texts to choose from. I hope you will find something for your reading pleasure.

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Educated: A Memoir

Educated: A Memoir is a wonderful and fascinating memoir by a woman my own age.   This book makes me feel very unintelligent as the author has accomplished so much despite such a traumatic upbringing.   Tara Westover grew up on an Idaho mountain with a Mormon father who believed the end of days was coming soon.  Convinced the government was out to get them the family refused to seek any type of medical treatment besides the mother’s midwifery knowledge.   Half of the children never attend school and instead work for their father in the family’s junkyard.  Tara describes her journey including educating herself to getting into college and studying abroad.  A truly powerful story of overcoming abuse and hardship (and a crazy family) to becoming incredibly successful. I can’t recommend this book more!

Dreams of Falling

I didn’t like Dreams of Falling at first but then it grew and grew on me.   The book has interwoven stories of three generations of friends, mothers, and daughters.  The narratives ultimately lead to determining what happened to cause a suspicious fire that claimed the life of one of them. A story of coming back home only to find that your reality was never the whole truth.

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin

The American family mentioned in the title of In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin is the U.S. ambassador to Germany’s family.  The book describes how the U.S. ambassador, his wife, and two adult children viewed Hitler’s Germany throughout their time in the country.  Spoiler alert – their views definitely change drastically over time.

  The book takes you through meetings, dinners, and parties attended by the family members which informs the reader more about how the U.S. government was reacting to events in Germany during this time.  The daughter in particular “got around” and may have ended up being a political liability.  The ambassador was struggling in his own right because of his frugalness and complaints about other officials in the U.S. government.  When reading this book it is hard not to think about how events and certain situations could have turned out dramatically different.   I liked the history.  I really enjoyed the unique perspective.  But the number of details slowed the reading down and it was a little dry.

Jungleland: A Mysterious Lost City and a True Story of Deadly Adventure

This was a different book than I’m used to reading.  A true story, Jungleland tells of the author deciding to try and find the lost White City in Honduras.  The adventure puts him in many dangerous situations causing him to think of his wife and daughter back home.  The trip is pretty miserable as you can imagine.  Trekking around the jungle searching for a city that probably doesn’t even exist.  Following clues and a long-dead man’s path and hints.  The concept of the book I thought was very interesting but the whole thing leaves you wanting.  Plus, from a wife’s perspective, I think it just made me a little angry.

P.S. China Rich Girlfriend was sooo good – if you liked Crazy Rich Asians please continue to read the rest of the trilogy!